UN pledges more to protect Central African civilians

The United Nations will do “everything in its power” to prevent further atrocities in the Central African Republic, a top UN official said on Thursday at the end of a three-day visit.
The UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson was addressing lawmakers in the capital Bangui a day after Human Rights Watch called on the UN to do more to protect civilians caught up in fighting between armed groups or being targeted by them.
“October was particularly violent,” Eliasson said in parliament on Wednesday, referring to attacks in which over 70 people died.
“We have learnt lessons from these dreadful events and will do everything in our power to prevent such atrocities,” he said.
On Monday, France withdrew its own military mission which it deployed in CAR in December 2013, leaving the UN’s 12 500-strong Minusca peacekeeping mission to protect civilians from armed groups.